Geneviève Tardieu: Good afternoon. I am Geneviève Tardieu, a member of ATD Fourth World, and I will be introducing our speakers. They will share their reflections about participation or lack of it, coming from their own lives.
The experience of people living in poverty is crucial to policy making.
Leaving No One Behind is one of the best examples. While evaluating the Millennium Development Goals, people living in poverty reacted strongly against the goal of reducing poverty by one half, which would leave out the most isolated people. The concept of leaving no one behind was forged by people living in poverty and is now the backbone of the 2030 Agenda.
However, there are a lot of barriers to participation, one of them being that people living in poverty are not expected to make meaningful contributions.
Ms. Stacy White, you have the floor.
Stacy White:
I live with my daughter in a shelter in New York City. For me, poverty is about neglected areas, where there are limited resources for families. So, we’re going to continue like that, unless people living in poverty let their
voices be heard.
It's important that we stand up for our rights and that we voice our needs.
I mean going to meet people and speaking with them, because a piece of paper is just not going to work. It’s important to be heard because it’s only right. Everyone should have the right to say how they feel about what is going on in their life.
A lot of times I had the feeling I was not heard. When I went into the shelter system, I was told I was giving them false information. They don’t listen because a lot of people judge others by their status. So, if we’re not on the same level, people won’t listen to us.
Kim Cook:
The shelter system is not appropriate and the homeless community has no say about it. Homeless couples who are not legally married can’t go to a shelter together.
Family shelters won’t take males over 17. In Boston, most public bathrooms close at 5:00 p.m. The homeless people say, “This is just how it is; the bureaucrats don’t listen to us.”
We vote, but things aren’t changing the way we want. Why am I settling for that? Why am I not crying out that this is a crime against humanity, that this is degrading? I want to be part of changing the system.
Salehe Seif:
I am here today to speak on behalf of Asha a Fourth World activist from Dar Es Salam.
When her visa to come here was denied, she told me: “People living in extreme poverty are often humiliated and disrespected. I felt that my rights were violated, that I do not have an equal opportunity to travel and belong to a larger world. They told me they cannot give me a visa because of my income, and they did not believe that I would come back to my country after the event of October 17.
“I was very disappointed. I believed I would share my knowledge and my experience and learn from others as well.”
Asha was refused a visa because her worth as a person and her human dignity did not have value. The knowledge and experiences of people living in poverty are not taken into account in society and institutions.
They are imprisoned in cages. Nobody trusts or believes them. They have no chance to express themselves.
Patrick Matara:
I grew up in a very humble family in rural Kenya. I decided to remain close to the children there and to help raise their voice.
There are so many children who are struggling. Children go through many problems; they feel hopeless, unwanted, and useless.
When I think about the furthest behind, the ones who come to mind are children who have been discriminated against, isolated, and left in the streets. They need somebody who can stand up for them.
Geneviève Tardieu:
Thank you. Now, we will see that the lack of participation has a number of negative consequences resulting in policies that lack efficiency and coherence.
Ms. Cook you have the floor.
Kim Cook:
It seems like a lot of the system is built to keep people in poverty. I only got into a shelter when I showed up with my infant son in winter and I told them, “I have nowhere to go.” I have been in the system for five years now, and they were giving out housing vouchers, but I am not eligible because my last permanent residence wasn’t a Boston address.
I have another example: there’s a limit to how much money you can save. If you have more than $2,000, your benefits get cut off. But it costs more than $2,000 to get an apartment. You need the first month’s rent and a security deposit. How am I supposed to save for an apartment if I can’t have more than $2,000?
I feel like policies are put in place more to protect the system from abuse than to lift people up.
My children are half Native American. We lost our state health insurance for two months because they said I didn’t send in the necessary paperwork to prove that my children are Native American. With Massachusetts’s health insurance, there are no extra benefits for being Native American.
Why did I have to get all these documents?
In the end, they listed my kids as white. I got my health insurance back by hiding who they truly are for the bureaucracy. I think it’s partially discrimination, but it’s also a lack of trust.
Salehe Seif:
In our countries, the people in the deepest poverty do come together as themselves. The only place where they are missing is in policy making.
When the policy makers plan development concerning the people who are left behind, they are not included. But they are the ones who live in poverty, and they have contributions to make and opinions about what works better for their lives.
When the human rights and dignity of everybody are taken into account, the world will have sustainable peace and love.
Patrick Matara:
When I reached secondary school age, I was unable to go because we could not afford the fee. My mother raised her five children by herself. I was devastated because I did very well in primary school and I saw my friends going to school.
I thought, “This is my end.” Then I said to the god that I always pray to, ‘‘I know one day, sometime, I will be in school again.” I went to see my father and got his support.
Then I had to find someone to sponsor me to go to university. Education is the way out of poverty but it is not accessible to the poorest. So there is no way out of poverty for them.
Salehe Seif:
We are facing the same problem in my country.
Asha was one of the good students despite her poverty and struggle. However, her mother had to advise her to fail the national exam. She was worried about the cost for secondary school because she was alone — because of the loneliness of the extreme poverty they were facing.
In my country, if a child passes the national exam and parents don’t bring him or her to secondary school, they could go to jail. And it is also a source of shame for parents if their child passes the exam and they don’t bring them to the secondary school.
What other choice did Asha’s mother have? You see that poverty also forces you to make choices that you know are not what you want for yourself and your family.
Geneviève Tardieu:
In spite of all the barriers, people who live in poverty build relationships, reach out to the poorest people in their communities, and forge valuable partnerships.
Kim Cook:
I volunteer every week with a program that has free lunch and art programs for the homeless. I can always help people in some way. I buy them a cup of coffee when I have the money.
The only thing that gets us through each day is that we rely on one another. We are stronger together. Really, we’re a family. While I live in the shelter, I’m trying to give my kids as normal a life as possible. I pride myself on raising my children without discrimination. This is a vital step for people to get out of poverty. It’s a struggle, but it’s worth it.
Salehe Seif:
People who live in poverty are not beggars. They don’t complain; they don’t come forward and say, “I need help.” Often they work hard; they do their best to hide their poverty, to make sure they wear clean clothes. It is a way of defending themselves.
So how can they be reached by a protection system? It is not enough to ask through a survey if your house is made of mud or metal sheet, to know who are the poorest of a community.
The people know themselves. They can say who should be helped and what are the right questions to ask them.
We support one another, but we lack the means to do it.
Patrick Matara:
In Kibera, a group of children I am working with told us about a child and her mother. We decided to visit them. The 16-year-old girl was mentally disabled. At first, she was not comfortable speaking, then she started opening up about her challenges and how she was discriminated against and isolated.
Her father died when she was 7 years old. Her mother got infected with HIV/AIDS. The doctors wanted to take the child and give her another home, but her mother refused. She became depressed because people in the community stopped talking to her. Through time and friendship, we connected them with one of our centers.
The mother was recovering and her daughter went to school, but some people still abused her. When we found out, we reported it, the police apprehended a man, and now he is behind bars. This girl and her mother are the kind of people who are left behind. We must befriend the marginalized so they can access their rights.
When people experience challenges and injustices, we need to come together to address the problem. If we work as a team, we can win. We will accomplish our goal of eradicating poverty.
Stacy White:
ATD Fourth world provides a safe space for people in poverty to speak up, to speak out about our lives. That is the Fourth World People’s University.
There, we learn a lot about our rights, we are comfortable enough to speak with one another, and we feel that people have empathy. Everybody speaks honestly. There, a lot of us who are in poverty feel that we are somebody. That’s why I encourage so many people to join. This is a place where everybody has a voice.
I am part of the planning team for the People’s University. We prepare the monthly meetings. We choose one topic; it could be homelessness, education etc. We choose activities to help people express themselves, like ice breakers and Forum Theater. We send out invitations; we reach out to other people living in poverty. We invite a guest who can discuss with us on our topic. We are together with people from different walks of life, but we all have the heart to reach out to those living in poverty. We learn a lot from one another. This is a give-and-take situation.
I have gained the right to be heard. It has helped me deal with a lot outside as well. I know that I can speak up and say, “It’s not fair what is happening.” You get so much respect when you speak up for yourself. It’s true for me, and it’s true for many others. People’s University is a place of true participation.
Salehe Seif:
In order to achieve our goal of eradicating extreme poverty, participation is necessary, and people with direct experience of poverty are the central stakeholders. They have great ideas, suggestions, and opinions for achieving goals.
When they can merge their knowledge with academics and practitioners, the results become complete and no one is left behind.
It allows all citizens or communities to actively participate in the development of their community or country.
Participation allows everyone to be aware of what is happening in the community, and it makes people feel proud.
For example, in Tanzania, ATD Fourth World conducted successful participatory research on Education For All, with people who have direct experience of poverty. All primary schools involved have seen positive changes. In the past, those schools did not have good communication
between teachers, parent, and students, but now they do. And it makes it very easy for the children to love to learn.
This research involved all stakeholders: teachers, parents, students, local authorities, and education officers, and at the end we got successful impacts. Participation builds up courage, confidence, and knowledge. It expands ideas and also the capacity to make appropriate decisions.
To leave no one behind, we need to include all, in every step of the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies.
